The China Asters. 



229 



of the plants never reaching beyond four inches in height. Many 

 colors. 



II. B. Long-quilled or Needle asters. 



Victoria Needle (Fig. -12). — Either medium tall or dwarf asters, 

 with the habit of the Chrysanthemum-flowered type, and the range 

 and brilliancy of coloring of the Victorias, but distinguished by 

 the long quill-like florets, and the absence of rays. Excellent, of 

 its class. (Page 222.) 



Lillij)ut. — Plants tall and strict. Flowers small, the quills slen- 

 der and compact. Late. Many colors, very pretty. (Page 221.) 



The student a few years hence who consults this paper — if I 

 should be so fortunate as to have a reader then — will be interested 

 to know just what varieties of asters were ofl^ered by American 

 seedsmen in the spring of 1895. I have, therefore, made a list of 

 the varieties, under the names by which they are catalogued. All 

 these many and various types belong to a single species {Callistej>hus 

 hortensis'^), which is native to Siberia and China, and which is now 

 widely cultivated in temperate climates. The trade names are given, 

 without any attempt to determine synonyms: 



Alneer's Perfection Double. 

 Ball of Fire. 

 Better! dge's Prize. 

 Betteridge's Quilled, Mixed. 

 Betteridge's Quilled, Sulphur 



Yellow. 

 Blue Danube. 

 Bolitze's Dwarf Bouquet. 

 Boston Florists' White. 

 Boston Market White. 

 Bouquet Dwarf, Crimson. 

 Bouquet Dwarf, Mixed. 

 Bouquet Dwarf, AVhite. 

 Branching, Crimson. 

 Branching, Lavender. 

 Branching, Shell Pink. 



Branching, White. 



Breck's International Prize. 



Candelabra, Bed. 



Caldelabra, Hose. 



Candelabra, White. 



China. 



Chrysanthemum flowered — 

 Dwarf, Brilliant Rose. 



Chrys. flowered — Dwarf, Crim- 

 son. 



Chrys. flowered — Dwarf, Dark, 

 Lavender. 



Chrys. flowered — Dwarf, Fiery 

 Scarlet. 



Clirvs 

 Pmk. 



flowered — Dwarf, Flesh 



* The proper botanical name of the China aster, however, is Callistemma hor- 

 tense, Cassini, Dist. Sci. Nat. \[. Siippl. 45 (1817), and BnlL Soc. Philom. 1817, 32. 

 The name CalHsteph us hortensis, both geuns and species, dates from 1825. This 

 latter name is accepted by Bentham and Hooker, however (Geueni Plantarum, 

 ii,270), and I therefore used it in the revision of Gray's Field, Forest and Garden 

 Botany, inasmuch as Gray preferred to adhere closely to Benth;im aud Hooker's 

 vrork. Callistemma has long been in use, with more or less frequency, by horti- 

 culturists, and it would seem, therefore, that it should be revived. 



